


Glimbow Shorts

by TippenFunkaport



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Character Swap, Angst, Awkwardness, Canon Compliant, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cuddling & Snuggling, Eating bugs, F/M, Family, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Glimbow Centric, Injury, Jealousy, Marriage Proposal, Mild Blood, Missing Scene, Nightmares, Post-Canon, Princess Prom (She-Ra), Romance, Sleepy Cuddles, Tumblr: Glimbow Week, Underwear, bow's siblings, couple swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26262151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TippenFunkaport/pseuds/TippenFunkaport
Summary: A collection of short Glimmer / Bow centric fics written for Glimbow Week. These are all Fluff except for the last one which I made angsty just to keep you on your toes!1. Prompt: Memory: Bow tries to get Glimmer to remember the ridiculous names of all his siblings. (Post Canon)2. Prompt: Injury: Bow patches Glimmer up after she gets injured on a mission. (Missing Scene)3. Prompt: Touch: The Best Friend Squad is having a sleepover the night after their visit to Plumeria and Bow wakes up to discover he's been unwittingly cuddling Glimmer in his sleep. (Missing Scene)4. Prompt: Princess Prom / Jealousy: Glimmer wakes from a nightmare with a question for Bow. (Post Canon)5. Prompt: Family: Glimmer talks to Micah while he enjoys a snack in the Bright Moon garden. (Post Canon)6. Prompt: Swap: Glimbow and Seamista swap places for a scene from Princess Prom (AU)7. Prompt: Wedding / Proposal:  Shortly after Angella's disappearance, Bow and Adora discover that new Queen Glimmer's been getting marriage proposals from would be suitors (Missing Scene)
Relationships: Adora & Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora & Bow (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Sea Hawk/Peekablue (She-Ra)
Comments: 64
Kudos: 180
Collections: Glimbow Week 2020





	1. For the Prompt: Memory

**Author's Note:**

> These were supposed to be quick little drabbles but most of them ended up longer because I am terrible at writing short. Each written much faster than my usual fics so cut me some slack!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Memory: Bow tries to get Glimmer to remember the ridiculous names of all his siblings. (Post Canon)

“OK, let’s go through it one more time.”

Glimmer let out a long, exasperated sigh. Bow was lucky she loved him because otherwise she would strangle him right now. “When you said there was going to be a quiz later, I didn’t think you were serious!”

“Glimmer, my dads are expecting us any minute now and you still don’t have this down!” Bow was pacing back and forth in her room in Bright Moon, looking very cute but nervous in his new suit. New because she had to put her foot down or he would have worn that same one he’d worn to Princess Prom AND her coronation again. “I’m not asking you to remember everyone’s spouses and kids’ names, just my actual siblings. That’s it!”

He made it sound so reasonable. Like there weren’t freaking THIRTEEN of them. But this was the first time she was meeting most of his family, and it was really important to him. Heck, it was really important to her. She couldn’t remember being more nervous about making a good impression.

Gods, why was being a girlfriend so much more stressful than being a queen?

“Alright, give me a second.” She closed her eyes and tried to picture Bow’s siblings. His dads had taken her through an entire photo album of Bow’s baby pictures on one of their visits so she’d seen them all but, in her defense, there had been a whole alien abduction and war for the universe between then and now. OK, well, she’d start with the easy one. “Well, the oldest one is Dirk. I’ve actually met him.”

“Right.” Bow had his arms crossed expectantly. “One down, twelve to go.”

“Eleven! I know the youngest too. Very cute, good with tech. His name is... hmm, what is it? It’s something like... Arrow?” She fluttered her eyelashes at him flirtatiously.

“OK, fine, you know me too. Next?”

Glimmer paused. It was worth a shot. “Do you actually have a sibling called Arrow?”

“No. Pretty sure my dads are expecting a grandkid named that though.” He grinned at her.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you kidding? Is this a joke right now?” He was laughing, but he was also blushing a little so it could go either way. “You’re not seriously planning on--“

“We have to leave in five minutes and you only know two names, one of which is mine. Focus!”

“Ugh, OK, let me think.” She sat down on the window seat and traced the edge of her gown bodice while she tried to remember. Who was the scary one who played the lute? “Oo, Kay! Though that’s not a weapon name.” Shoot, what could that be short for. “Uh, Knuckles? Like... brass knuckles?”

“You think I have a sister named ‘brass knuckles?’”

“Says the man named Bow.” She glared at him. He was laughing an awful lot for what she thought was a perfectly reasonable guess. “Oh, wait. It’s Knife, isn’t it?”

“Correct.” OK, whew. But like Knife was any better than what she’d guessed?

“Wait, there were a couple others who had normal names. Well, normal nicknames anyway.” Normal being a relative term here because all of Bow’s relatives were named after instruments of death. She screwed up her face and tried to remember. “Uh, Dags... and Boomer?” She peeked a look at Bow, who was looking at her expectantly. “Ugh, fine, OK, Dags is... Dagger and Boomer is short for... I don’t know. Cannon or something? No? Well, at least give me a hint!”

He was laughing again, and it was not helpful. “You throw it away and it comes back to you.”

“Boomerang? Your dads named one of their children BOOMERANG? On purpose?”

“You know your name is Glimmer, right?”

“Does a boomerang even count as a weapon?” She should honestly stop trying to be logical about this and just start throwing out random weapon names. She pictured the Bright Moon armory and just started naming things she knew were in there. “Uh, how about Spear? Mace! Oh, wait, Blade, that’s the other twin, right?” See, she did actually remember some of this. “Axe?”

“Actually, Dirk said they go by Axe-ine now.”

“OK.” She was running out of weapons. She started thinking about things her friends fought with. “Let’s see, how about Sword? Blade? Whip?”

“You got two out of three. I do not have a sibling named Sword. Though that may be the name of Blade’s youngest, now that I think of it.”

She groaned. Gods, she could not believe she was even considering marrying into this ridiculous family. Maybe she should run now while she had the chance. Make up her own fake school and start living a double life. Then Bow looked over at her and gave her an encouraging smile, and she knew she wasn’t going anywhere. Ugh, she’d even name the damn kid Arrow if that’s really what he wanted.

Stupid love.

“Three left!” He said, glancing at the time on his tracker pad.

OK, thinking. “How about Hammer? Flail? Lance! Oh, wait, that’s your dad’s name. Uh, Tank? Staff. Catapult? Pulse Bot! Stun Baton?”

“Stun Baton??? These are all just wild guesses!”

“Well, I’m a wild kind of gal!” She did jazz hands, but he did not seem impressed by them.

“Glimmer!”

She was trying to get it back together because she’d started thinking about George and Lance looking down at their new baby and affectionately calling it Stun Baton, and now she couldn’t stop laughing. Stop it! It’s not funny! These terrible names are the names of real people that are very important to the man you love, and that means they are not hilarious. Not even a little. Another traitorous giggle burst out, but she shoved it back down.

Not funny. Deep breaths. In and out. Oo! She remembered two more.

“Gun!” She said triumphantly. “And the one we ran into that time... which was... Jav... Javelin?”

“You got it!” Bow came over and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I’m sorry. I know it’s a lot to remember. But I’m really excited for you to meet my family. I just know they’re going to love you as much as I do.”

She gave him what she hoped was an optimistic smile of someone who actually knew the names of all her boyfriend’s siblings and not the smile of someone who had only gotten at least half those names right by random guessing. Bow was looking down at his tracker pad, chewing on the edge of his nail. She got up from the window seat and gave his hand a squeeze. “You nervous?”

“Kinda. OK, a lot. I haven’t seen some of them in years. Not to mention there’s been at least half a dozen new nieces and nephews to meet since the last time we all got together. So it’s going to be a lot all at once.” He smiled at her. “But I’m glad you’re going to be there with me.”

“Of course. It’ll be fun!” Or, more accurately, it’ll be terrifying. But she wasn’t going to say that out loud. “Should we head out now?”

“Wait!” Bow held up a hand. “You only did twelve. One left.”

She threw her arms up in exasperation. “Oh, for all the... Bow, I love you, but I don’t have the slightest clue! I have named every single weapon I can think of. Just tell me, please?” 

“It’s Trebber. Short for Trebuchet.” He grabbed his jacket and held out his hand for hers. “Come on, we’ve got to get going.”

“Why in the name of all the moons would you name your child _Trebuchet_? Why would you name your child ANY of these things?” She just stared at his hand without taking it. She was trying to be supportive, but she was completely flabbergasted right now. “Aren’t your dads pacifists? Why did they name all their kids after things that kill people? It makes no sense!”

Bow scrunched up his face and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s supposed to be some kind of metaphor. About how we’re all weapons of peace in a war hungry world?”

She blinked at him. “Are we sure they weren’t on a whole lot of drugs when they came up with this?”

He laughed. “They might have been. They went through kind of a... crunchy phase after the war.”

Great. Bow’s dads were hippie stoners and he had a dozen siblings named after weapons because something something peace and then there would be like nine thousand niblings running around when she was not sure how she felt about little kids and was it too late to fake a crisis on the other side of the planet she could teleport them to so they didn’t have to go to this thing? Bow was looking a little sick at the idea too, and she was just about to suggest they make a break for it when she remembered something.

“Wait. Does the rest of the family know the truth about you?”

“No, not at all. My dads didn’t tell them anything, not about the rebellion or you or the whole fact that you’re the Queen or anything. They said it wasn’t their place. So that’s... going to be interesting.” He grinned sheepishly. It was adorable. Aw, he really was nervous.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself on her tiptoes so her lips were almost touching his. “You mean this charming muscled hero of the war for the entire universe that I see before me is going to walk in there tonight on the arm of the Queen of Bright Moon when they’re all expecting this quiet little historian boy?”

“Basically. Yeah.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and closed the distance between them. They were still kissing when she’d teleported them just outside the library. They pulled apart, and she straightened his collar.

He looked so handsome. Objectively a very impressive young man. And she’d never really gotten to show him off before.

“Come on.” She said as she took his hand and they made their way to the door of the library. “This is going to be fun.”


	2. Glimbow Week Prompt: Injury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Damn it, Bow! Snap out of it! I have never seen you be so weird about a little blood before.”
> 
> That’s because the blood was not the problem. 
> 
> The problem was that she’d come in here wearing nothing but her underwear.
> 
> \---
> 
> Bow patches Glimmer up after she gets injured on a mission. Set during Season 1, shortly after they meet Adora for the first time.

Bow trudged into his room. Every single part of his body felt bruised, beaten and just plain exhausted. He could only imagine how much worse he’d feel if they’d lost. He kicked off his boots and was weighing the merits of collapsing into his bed filthy with all his armor on vs trying to stay upright long enough to change and clean up when he heard Glimmer call him.

From his own bathroom.

“Bow? Get in here.”

Bow sighed. “Glimmer, we talked about this. I don’t mind if you teleport into my room without knocking, but I need some place where I can at least get changed without having to worry that you’re going to—“

“Can you just get in here? I’m kind of having a crisis.”

“Wha—“ Bow pushed open the bathroom door and found himself at a complete loss for words.

“OK, yes, you were right. That grating scraped me up a lot worse than I thought, but spare me the lecture and just help me get this cleaned up because it hurts sooo much.”

“I—“ Bow was paralyzed in the doorway. “Shouldn’t we take you to a healer?” 

“And have my mom find out? Are you kidding me?” Glimmer was leaning against the sink in his bathroom, wincing. The scrapes on her back were red and angry, one of them dripping a slow line of blood down her back. It was clear from her expression that she was in way more pain than she wanted to admit. “Just help me get it cleaned and bandaged.”

“Glimmer... I, uh—“ He swallowed, trying to look anywhere but at her, which was particularly hard as there were two of her if you counted the one in the mirror.

“What is with you right now? We’ve cleaned each other up a billion times. Are you seriously going to let me bleed to death because you’re suddenly scared of a little blood? Get the kit already!”

Bow opened his mouth and closed it again. Glimmer put her head down on the sink and made a pained little whimper that spurred him into action. He popped the false bottom out of the bathroom cabinet and grabbed the medical kit they kept there for post-mission, Queen-Angella-must-not-know moments exactly like this. He popped it open on the counter and started grabbing everything he’d need to clean and sterilize the wound, his eyes completely focused on the contents on the kit and absolutely nothing else.

“Also grab the tweezers. I think there’s glass or something in it because something hurts like...”

She swore. He turned automatically to give her a reproachful look and immediately flushed and went back to looking at the kit.

Tweezers, bandages, gauze, antibiotic. OK, he had everything. Now he just had to figure out how he was going to do this without looking at her.

He exhaled and leaned on the counter, his eyes locked on the kit. “Glimmer, I don’t know—“

“Why are you just standing there? Are you going to pass out or something?”

Honestly? He might. It was suddenly boiling in here. He realized he still had all his armor on and pulled it off.

It didn’t help.

OK, Bow, Glimmer’s in pain. You can fix this. You just need to get it together.

Except he still hadn’t moved.

“Damn it, Bow! Snap out of it! I have never seen you be so weird about a little blood before.”

That’s because the blood was not the problem. The series of scrapes all up her back didn’t look great, but they weren’t anything worse than what he’d cleaned up for her before.

No, the problem was that she’d come in here wearing nothing but her underwear.

The drip of blood from her back was spreading angry and red along the lacy pink edge of her underpants and, oh god, he was looking and he shouldn’t be looking!

“Bow! It really freaking hurts!”

“Okay, okay! Just... give me a second.” Bow ran into the other room and grabbed the stool from his worktable. He placed it alongside the bathroom counter where he’d staged everything he’d grabbed from the kit and gestured for her to sit, moving away before she got within his field of vison. He washed his hands and wet a washrag so he could clean the wound.

He could do this. He just had to focus on the injury and not how Glimmer was basically naked. There was just... a lot of skin there and most of it he’d never seen before and he was NOT looking, of course, because this was his best friend and he was a gentleman but... WHY was it so hot in here?

He started cleaning the wound as best as he could, considering he was doing it without fully opening his eyes. The problem was that part of the wound extended underneath her bra, the pale purple material going dark with blood. He lifted the strap as best as he could, trying to clean the part underneath, but it was hard to see what he was doing. Then the strap slipped, and the elastic snapped down right onto her cut. She swore again.

“Sorry!” Gods, now he’d hurt her worse. He hated this. “It’s just that I think this part under the strap is where the glass is. There’s definitely something stuck in there and I can’t really see it.”

“Then unhook it!”

“I don’t...” He hadn’t the slightest idea of how to even begin doing that.

“Ugh, let me do it.” With a lot of wincing, she twisted her arm around to her back and somehow had the whole thing unhooked in half a second. “Good?”

“Uh...” His heart was going so fast he was getting a little dizzy. He could see her whole back now, the straps of her bra hanging at her sides. She held the... important part?… over her chest so there was nothing to see there... NOT that he was looking or even thinking about that!

He squeezed his eyes into an even narrower squint. Even through the double vision of his mostly closed eyes, he could see the thing now sticking out of the top of the cut which looked more like a bit of metal than glass. He fumbled blindly for the tweezers. He didn’t want to pinch her skin and hurt her more, but if he opened his eyes all the way, it would be impossible not to...

He put the tweezers down and covered his face with his hands. “Maybe I should get Adora to do this?”

“You think I want Adora seeing me in my underwear?” She spun around to look at him. “I’ve known her for like a week and a half!”

He opened his fingers just enough that he could see her eyes. “But she’s... a girl?”

“Ughhhh, is that what this is about? You’ve seen me in a bathing suit!”

“A bathing suit is different! You’re supposed to see bathing suits!” Now that they were actually acknowledging the whole underwear thing, he was way more embarrassed than before. He was trying to look everywhere but at her. “You look nice in a bathing suit.”

“I see. But me in my underwear is so horrifying you can’t look at me.” She turned her back on him again.

“What? No!” He spun the stool around until he was face to face with her again. She wouldn’t meet his eyes and tears were pooling in her eyes. He put his hands on her arms and looked at her face and ONLY her face. “Please don’t cry. I didn’t mean… You look good all the time. In everything. Or nothing.” She gave him a look for that and he felt like he could throw up. “I assume? Or not! Because, obviously, I’ve never given that any thought or anything but...” His face was on fire and he was half a second from crawling under his bed and staying there until he died, but Glimmer was shaking with laughter now through her tears so somehow his inane babbling was helping the situation.

“It’s OK. I know what you meant.” She gave him a small smile but still looked so sad. And it was all his fault.

“I’m sorry for making it weird. I was just worried about your... womanly honor? Or something?”

“Like I care about that! I trust you with my life! You think I’m worried if you see me naked? You’re literally the only person I’ve never once felt self-conscious in front of.” She wiped her eyes with her palm and almost lost her bra. She flushed as she tugged the strap back up on her shoulder. “Damn it! I wasn’t embarrassed before, but I am now! Maybe I should just go to a healer.”

“No. I’m going to fix this.”

Bow exhaled, and before he could change his mind, pulled off his shirt. Glimmer froze, her mouth hanging open. Then he unbuckled his jeans and he threw them to the ground and her eyebrows lifted higher than he’d thought eyebrows could go. He stepped out of his pants and tried to look like he felt super casual in just his underwear and not like he was so embarrassed he was going to burst into flames.

“There. Now we’re both in our underwear, so nobody needs to be embarrassed about anything. Or maybe we’re both equally embarrassed so it doesn’t matter? It made more sense in my head.”

Glimmer stared at him, her entire face flushed pink to her ears. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, but nothing actually came out. For a second he figured he’d screwed everything up worse, but then she covered her eyes and started to giggle. She peeked at him through her fingers and he grinned at her and then they both started laughing, giddy and wild like they used to when they were kids, staying up way too late and cracked out on sweets.

Except when they were kids, he wouldn’t have been trying so hard not to think about how she was holding up her bra with one hand meant and everything was all pushed up and how the motion of laughing… you know, he was just going to turn her back around and finish patching her up.

A few minutes later, he’d gotten out the bit of metal out of her back and he’d cleaned and bandaged her as best as he could. Luckily the wound hadn’t been nearly as bad as it looked, and most of it wasn’t deep. No lasting harm done. Physical or psychological.

After the initial weirdness, they’d settled into their usual easy banter. He’d almost been able to forget they were both in their underwear. Almost.

There. Finished. He was washing his hands when she wrapped him in a hug from behind. Which was warm and soft and sent his heart rate through the roof, but wasn’t so bad either.

“Bow, thank you. You’re the best.”

He had a feeling she didn’t just mean for the bandaging. “No problem. What are friends for?”

“Right.” From the way she hesitated, he wondered if maybe he’d said something wrong. The older they got, the more they had weird moments like this where he felt like he was missing something important. “Well, we should both get some sleep. Good night.”

“Good night.” He said, but she’d already teleported away before he’d finished saying it. And it was fine. It was late and it had been a long day and they did both need some sleep but… the room felt very empty suddenly.

Since he was undressed anyway, he might as well take a shower before he got dressed for bed. And then go lay down and not think about things he shouldn’t be thinking about. He’d just… think about absolutely nothing at all.

He shook his head and turned on the water as cold as it could go.


	3. Glimbow Week Prompt: Touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Best Friend Squad is having a sleepover the night after their visit to Plumeria and Bow wakes up to discover he's been unwittingly cuddling Glimmer in his sleep.

Bow woke to the sound of... actually, what was that? He opened his eyes to discover he in a sleeping bag on the floor of Adora’s room— Oh, right, they were having a sleepover to celebrate their victory in Plumeria yesterday— and that Adora was... sleep? fighting? Whatever it was involved a lot of grunting and flailing and punching of blankets.

“Adora! It’s OK. You’re asleep!” He called in what he hoped was a reassuring voice.

Adora sat bolt upright, her eyes still closed. Her voice was slurred with sleep. “Bow! Cover me! I’m going in!”

“Uh... sure?”

Adora nodded her head without opening her eyes and then crashed back down onto her bed. Bow watched her for a few minutes but she was out cold. And in a stationary way this time.

OK...? That was weird. She must have been dreaming.

He settled back down and closed his eyes. He was feeling pretty warm and comfy right now and had almost fallen back to sleep when he realized two things. The first was that Glimmer had somehow slept through all that Adora weirdness because she was still breathing heavily next to him. And the second was that he knew this because he’d apparently been sleeping with his arm wrapped around her.

He was suddenly completely awake, the muscles in his arm frozen. What the heck, Asleep Bow? How did we get in this position? They’d started the night out pretty far away from each other, he knew that much. But now his sleeping bag was _right_ up against hers and he was pretty much spooning her entire body with his arm around her and even though their sleeping bags were between them... he should move, right?

Well, it was kind of chilly in here, maybe he could just... No. No, he should definitely move.

He lifted his arm off of her as slowly as he could which was hard because it was mostly numb. How long had they been sleeping like that? And how did this keep happening?

Every sleepover, every overnight mission, no matter how far apart their sleeping bags started out, they always seemed to end up like this. Well, maybe not THIS exactly because THIS seemed a fairly memorable amount of close but right next to each other. Or halfway on top of each other. One time he’d even woken up with his hand on hers. Who started holding hands in their sleep?

And he wasn’t doing it on purpose! He was asleep! Though he’d be lying if he didn’t admit he enjoyed waking up with his best friend all snuggled up to him. Even now, when he was sure they should not be sleeping like this and that he really needed to move, he found he didn’t really want to? Gods, what was wrong with him.

What would Adora think if she woke up tomorrow and saw them like this? Glimmer had never seemed bothered by it but for some reason he was feeling much weirder about it now that it wasn’t just the two of them. 

He’d successfully gotten his arm back to his sleeping bag without waking her. The underside of his arm was cold from where he’d been holding her, and he tucked it awkwardly at his side. OK, now he should probably put some distance between them. They did at least seemed to have met in the middle, which made him feel a little better about it. He had just started to shimmy his sleeping bag back towards where it had started when Glimmer stirred, making a soft sound in her sleep.

He froze, mid roll, listening. OK, she seemed to be asleep again. He rolled onto his other side and attempted another shimmy, the material of his sleeping bag shushing way too loud against the floor. He’d barely moved an inch when he heard Glimmer roll over behind him. In half a second, she’d linked her arm around his waist and spooned herself up against his back. She let out a small sigh and then fell back into that familiar rhythm of breathing he knew from hundreds of sleepovers.

Well, now what? All they’d done was reverse their positions! Maybe if he gave her a minute to fall deeper asleep, he could lift her arm off of him and then slide away before— But he was having a very hard time remembering why he would want to do that.

Her face was nuzzled into his back and he could feel her warm cheek through the material of his nightshirt. And with her arm around him like that, she had him trapped, right? So no one could blame him if he didn’t move. At least not right away. He sighed, feeling sleepy and contented again.

Maybe this wasn’t weird. They hugged all the time when they were awake, right? Hugs were totally a friend thing! So if friends wanted to hug while they were asleep too, what was wrong with that? Nothing. He smiled as he drifted back off to sleep.

Though he may not have strictly been asleep when he closed his hands over hers.


	4. Glimbow Week Prompt: Princess Prom / Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Princess Prom / Jealousy: Glimmer wakes from a nightmare with a question for Bow.

“Bow? Bow, wake up!”

“Wha? What’s wrong?” Bow startled awake and reached automatically for his bow before realizing two things in rapid succession. The first was that the war was over and had been for weeks so he’d finally stopped sleeping with his weapons within reach and the second was that Glimmer was next to him in bed, just like every night since Prime’s fall.

“Nothing’s wrong, I just need to ask you something.”

Bow lay back down and tried to get his heart rate back to normal. He checked the clock alongside the bed.

“Glimmer, it’s 3 o’clock in the morning.”

“It will only take a minute.”

He sighed. He was just about to ask her what could possibly be so important that couldn’t wait until morning when he looked over at her. Even in the dim moonlight, he could see her cheeks shining with tears. He rolled over so he could wrap his arm around her and kissed her forehead. It must have been another nightmare. They were getting better, but she still sometimes woke in the dead of night confused about what was real and what wasn’t.

“What did you want to ask me?” What was it this time? Prime? Being back on the ship? Her dad attacking her? Since they’d come back to Bright Moon, she’d been dreaming about her mom more. Maybe it was the one where her mom came back chipped—

“Will you go to Princess Prom with me?”

He stared at her. “Will I—”

“Go to Princess Prom with me. As my plus one?” Her eyes were so wide and she looked almost as upset as she did on those desperate evenings when dreamed she was back on the Velvet Glove. “Will you be my date?”

“To Princess Prom?” He blinked, wondering if maybe he was still more asleep than he realized. “The one that’s... over half a decade away?” Assuming they were even still going to have one once they’d finished rebuilding the world.

She nodded solemnly.

“And why are you asking me this at three o’clock in the morning, six years in advance?”

“Because I asked you too late last time, and I didn’t want to do that again because if you go with someone else... If we’re not there together this time I’ll...” And then she was full on sobbing and he pulled her into him and let her soak his shirt and felt like maybe he was the worst boyfriend ever because he almost wanted to laugh.

“Shh, it’s OK. Yes. Of course, I’ll go with you.” Like, who else would he possibly go with? They’d already talked about getting married! Did she really think he wanted to marry her but take someone else to Princess Prom? “I’ll be your date for everything you want from now on. I promise.”

She mumbled something into his chest that sounded like “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He kissed her head. “What’s this about? Did you have a bad dream?” 

She nodded against his chest and sniffed wetly. “I was all alone because you went to the prom with Wrong Hordak.”

This time he really did laugh and the more he tried to stop it, the worse it got. She looked up at him and he tried to control himself, but it was no use. Glimmer stared at him for a moment and then she started laughing too until the both of them were shaking with laughter. 

When they’d finally composed themselves, Glimmer wiped her eyes and grinned at him. “I’m sorry for waking you. I guess that was pretty silly, now that I think about it.”

“It’s OK. But let your subconscious know one thing it definitely doesn’t have to worry about is me leaving you for Wrong Hordak. Now can we go back to sleep, please?” She nodded and a few minutes later was sleeping peacefully next to him again. 

He lay in the dark listening to the rhythm of her breathing and another overtired giggled bubbled up. Him and Wrong Hordak. He exhaled, pulling her close.

If only all her nightmares were that easy. 


	5. Glimbow Week Prompt: Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glimmer talks to Micah while he enjoys a snack in the Bright Moon garden.

“Hey Dad. You wanted to see me?” Glimmer lay down next to Micah in the grass alongside one of the long flowerbeds in the Bright Moon garden. 

“Hey, Babygirl. Beautiful afternoon, isn’t it?” His black hair was spread out all around his head and he was wearing a soft robe. His eyes were closed, basking in the afternoon sun, his arms crossed under his head. Glimmer smiled. He looked so relaxed.

“Sure.” She swatted a beetle away from her face. The air was thick with those big red menaces that had been destroying the flowers for weeks. She’d have to remember to ask the royal gardeners to do something about them. She was about to ask her dad what exactly he’d wanted to talk to her about when he reached up, snatched one of the big beetles and popped it into his mouth.

“Mmm. So much sweeter here than on Beast Island.”

“That’s... nice.” Glimmer kept her eyes on the clouds ahead and tried to ignore the sound of crunching alongside her. The bug thing was... I mean, people ate bugs! That was a thing plenty of people on this planet did, but... ugh, she was personally just SO disgusted by it.

“Want one?” Micah asked as he plucked another one out of the air.

“Uh, no thanks. I’m good.” Glimmer tried to force a smile even though she was in serious danger of losing her lunch. Micah shrugged and popped the new bug into his mouth. Glimmer started talking to cover the sound of chewing. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“I notice Bow never seems to sleep in his own room anymore.”

Glimmer immediately got that defensive prickle she got whenever they talked about this. “Dad, I am not a little kid anymore! I am an adult and a Queen and Bow and I are in love! You are just going to have to deal with the fact that, yes, it means we are... sharing a bed.” She’d been going to say sleeping together, but she chickened out. Adult Queen or not, this was still her dad.

Micah snatched another beetle—honestly, if he stayed out here much longer she wouldn’t even have to bother the gardeners about it, there’d be no more bugs left—looked contemplatively at it while its little wings struggled against the grip of his fingers. “You know, love is a lot like a bug. Hard to catch and then tough to crack when you do, but once you get in there...” He popped the bug into his mouth. “Mmm, delicious.”

Glimmer couldn’t hide her wince. “Dad, I’m glad the bug thing makes you happy, but thinking about you doing it is just so gross for me and I don’t even understand what this has to do with—“

Micah continued as if she hadn’t said anything. “Thing is, though, just like with eating bugs, even if everybody is happy for you? It doesn’t mean they really want to hear about it.”

“What does that—Oh! Oh, gods.” Glimmer flushed pink to her ears. Her dad grinned at her, a beetle leg stuck between his teeth, and she was so embarrassed she wouldn’t have minded if the ground opened up and swallowed her right now. “S-sorry about that. We’ll use a silencing spell on our room next time.”

Micah smiled and closed his eyes, his face to the sun. “On behalf of everyone on the second floor, thanks.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is for my Discord buddies who were joking about Micah chilling in the Bright Moon garden and eating bugs and I promised I'd write it for them!


	6. Glimbow Week Prompt: Glimbow Swap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glimbow and Seamista swap places for a scene from Princess Prom (AU)

"Adora! Mermista! Are you here for the social experiment too?”

Adora and her best friend Mermista exchanged a look as Entrapta scurried up to them. Even though Princess Prom was basically the fanciest event on the whole planet, the geek princess seemed to have come in the same stained overalls she always wore. Dang, Adora thought, shifting uncomfortably in the fancy sari Mermista had made her wear. If only I’d know that was an option!

“Social experiment?” Adora asked.

“Different groups are forced to mingle. Hierarchies form and break. It’s the perfect place to observe behavior. And they have tiny food!” Entrapta turned to Mermista. “Where’s Sea Hawk? I wanna show him my new lighter!”

She used her hair to press down on a tiny device that sent a column of fire a foot high into the air. Adora stepped back and did a quick check to make sure she still had her eyebrows and hair poof.

Mermista sighed. “Ughhhhh, he’s coming later.”

Entrapta looked confused. “Didn’t he come with you? Aren’t you some kind of weird on and off again couple?”

“Ew, like, why would you even think that?” Mermista looked utterly disgusted by the idea, but Adora knew her best friend well enough to know it was all an act.

“There he is! Sea Hawk!” At Entrapta’s excited squawking, they all turned to see the rebellion’s Pyrotech Master, Sea Hawk, coming down the stairs on the arm of Prince Peekablue. The third member of the Best Friend Squad had his arm linked around the Prince’s arm and they were leaning close and laughing together. They wore matching blue suits and the edge of Sea Hawk’s mustache looked slightly singed.

Mermista flushed scarlet, her eyes never leaving Sea Hawk. “Ughhhh, they were playing with matches? That’s our thing!”

“Feelings seem to be getting hurt.” Entrapta dictated into her recorder.

There was a sudden flash of pink sparkles, and Princess Glimmer appeared next to them. “Hey, I’m here too! Go ahead and big thing out of it, if you want.”

Mermista barely looked over at their friend from Salineas. Her eyes stayed trained on Sea Hawk and Peekablue who were fast approaching their little group. They could almost hear the shanty Sea Hawk was singing about Prince Peekablue from here.

“He’s singing him shanties?” Mermista growled. “Whatever!”

Glimmer looked from Sea Hawk to Mermista. “OK, I’m not going to get into whatever is happening there.” Entrapta seemed to have tuned them all out and was still dictating into her recorder. Glimmer gave her a confused look. “Or that. Look, have you seen—”

“Heeeeey, everybody, look who I came with! It’s Princess Glimmer! Princessss Glimmah! Prinnnnncess Glimmmm— Oh, hey, it’s my crew!”

Glimmer groaned as Bow, their cheerful captain from the voyage to Salineas, joined them. He’d traded his pirate jacket for a suit, and he and Glimmer matched in blues and purples. He had a huge grin on his face and he immediately leaned casually on Glimmer’s shoulder. The much shorter princess did not look amused.

Adora snort laughed. “So, Bow’s your plus one?”

“What? No.” Glimmer blushed pink to her ears and shook Bow off her. This only made the sea captain laugh. She shoved him, but it was more flirty than annoyed. Huh. Adora had thought those two had seemed a little more than just best friends. “He is just my ride. Just. My. Ride.”

Bow laughed. “No way, I’m totally her plus one! We’re wearing matching outfits and making up inside jokes and then later we’re eating ice cream! Best Princess Prom Squad!”

Entrapta cackled. “This is the best social experiment I’ve ever been to!”

Glimmer groaned. “Bow! Stop it! You’re so embarrassing! Come on, let’s go see if they have some cake or something.”

She grabbed Bow’s hand and dragged him after her.

Bow’s enthusiasm was undeterred. “To the dessert table! Wooo— Oh, heeeey, Sea Hawk!”

“Hey—” Adora smiled as their other best friend approached, but Mermista immediately cut her off.

“Ugh, Sea Hawk, who let you in here?”

“Well, hello my dearest friend Mermista! Peekablue was just telling me all about a shape-shifting gremlin who tried to steal his identity. Sound familiar?”

“Whatever. Adora and I were having a way better time before you showed up, so go away.”

Adora looked over at her best friend. What was her problem tonight? This was Sea Hawk, the third member of their trio. Why was she being so rude?

Sea Hawk’s mustache drooped. “Well, uh, then I guess we’ll go talk to someone else.”

“Yeah, you do that.” Mermista said and Sea Hawk gave her a final sad look before he and his date walked away. He called out a small “Adventure!” as he went, but Adora could tell his heart wasn’t in it.

Adora watched Mermista as the boys left. “Are you okay? Why does it bother you so much?”

Mermista growled again. “Ughhhh. It doesn’t. I don’t even care. Sea Hawk can hang out with whoever he wants. He can go set himself on fire for all I care. Maybe if I’m lucky everyone will go hang out with Sea Hawk and I can just sit around and read _Mer_ - _Mysteries_ in peace.”

Adora had a feeling her friend liked Sea Hawk way more than she let on. “Come on, Mermista. That’s not going to happen. Trust me, everyone’s not going to just ditch you for Sea Hawk. Friends don’t do that, and neither would....I.”

Adora froze. Someone was entering the ballroom that had caught her attention. Was that… Catra?


	7. Prompt: Wedding / Proposal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Glimmer’s still grieving Angella’s sacrifice in The Portal, Bow and Adora are trying to keep her kingdom running for her. But when they find out would-be suitors have been sending new Queen Glimmer marriage proposals, Bow has some feelings about that. 
> 
> (aka a Season 4 Missing Scene fic of the moment OG Glimbow shipper Adora realizes that her friends have feelings for each other)

It was the middle of the night and Adora was wandering the halls of Bright Moon feeling useless. Tired too. The kind of tired that was made of guilt and fury and grief. 

And from pretending you weren’t mourning friends who made bad choices. 

Or versions of the world that didn't actually exist. 

If she’d only been a better She-Ra! Then her best friend would still have a mom. She should have sacrificed herself so Queen Angella wouldn’t have had to— She leaned against a window sill and tried to get her breathing under control.

It didn’t help that she hadn’t slept in… days? weeks? Time had kind of blurred together since they'd come back from the portal. She wished she could erase the memory of that first awful day. 

Her strong, brave, amazing best friend sobbing onto her shoulder after she’d had told her. Numb hours of doing nothing but watching Bow’s hand rub and down Glimmer’s back, while she cried herself out against his chest. Pretending not to see how he didn’t let a single one of his tears fall before scrubbing it away so Glimmer wouldn’t notice. 

Bow had been amazing. Especially since Glimmer had spent the last few days alternately snapping at him and shoving him away one moment and sobbing herself to sleep in his arms the next. Glimmer was an unpredictable storm of emotion and Bow somehow sailed through it like the seas were still steady and calm. Adora didn’t have half his patience, especially since sometimes it seemed like Glimmer was meaner to Bow than anybody else just because she knew he’d take it. 

Those two. 

When she’d first gotten to Bright Moon, she’d figured friendship was just different out here than it was in the Horde but the more people she got to know, the more she suspected maybe Bow and Glimmer operated on some super-advanced level of friendship all their own. It was confusing because sometimes it seemed a lot like maybe it wasn’t just friendship? But Bow and Glimmer have known each other forever, they’d know if they were in love with each other, right?

For some reason, that made her think about this whole thing with Catra… Not the “in love with” part, obviously, because, whoa, haha, WHERE did that come from, but just the way that they both, uh… What was she thinking about again? 

There was light under a door ahead. Who the heck else would be up at this hour? And in Queen Angella's study? 

Adora rushed forward, pushing open the door, thinking for one wild moment that maybe it had all been a terrible dream. Glimmer's mom would somehow be in there looking stern and everything would be just as it always was! But, instead, looking hunched and small in the throne-like chair behind the massive desk… was Bow.

"Bow? Why are you in here?" 

Bow looked up guiltily from a stack of papers. Other than a small desk lamp, the only other illumination in the room was the flickering light from the fireplace. "Shhh! Glimmer’s finally asleep. If you’re coming in, close the door!"

"What are you doing?" Adora closed the door softly and moved closer to the desk. It was a disaster. Stacks of paper everywhere, envelopes half-open, pads of notes scattered across the surface. Adora reached for the nearest stack and Bow smacked her hand away. 

"Don't touch anything! I have a system, I swear, even if it doesn't look like it." He squinted at the paper in his hand, held it at arm's length, and then handed out to her in frustration. "Actually, while you’re here. What's this one about?"

"It's a... purchase order for soap." She handed it back and Bow nodded and added it to one of the stacks. "You couldn't read that?"

"I’m farsighted. I have reading glasses but Glimmer has never seen me in them outside of the portal and with everything that's been going on I didn't want to freak her out by wearing them. I can read most of them but not this tiny print or the ones with the loopy handwriting. This one?" 

"Fertilizer. You want to give me the stack? I'm feeling completely useless, I'd love to be able to help."

Bow sighed as if his inability to read tiny print was somehow a deep personal failing and handed the stack over. His eyes were still red and puffy and she had a feeling he hadn't slept much more than she had. He pointed at the piles around the desk. 

"That's Grounds, this is Kitchen, General Housekeeping, Payroll, Taxes and Tariffs, Supply Chains and... you know what, anything else, ask me." 

OK, control freak. Adora hid her grin and settled into the plush visitor's chair in front of the desk. She started shuffling through the papers and sorting them into the stacks. It felt a hundred times better now that she had something to keep herself distracted and at least feeling a little productive. And it was kind of cool to see all the little things that made the Bright Moon run that she’d never really thought about before.

"Wait. Are we supposed to be doing this? I mean, neither of us is Queen." 

Bow ran his fingers through his hair. "We're not forging her signature or anything! We're just going through it, getting it organized, pulling out the stuff that's most important so she knows what to do first. If we can at least make sure the castle staff still gets paid tomorrow and get the grocery order out before market day and not let her whole freaking kingdom fall apart while she's taking the time she needs to—” 

He stopped and exhaled. He pressed his fingers to his forehead and scrunched up his face. Adora went back to her papers and tried to give him some privacy. Sometimes she forgot that Bow had known Queen Angella way better and longer than she had. She wondered if she'd been less of an intimidating commanding officer to him and more like, well, a mom. 

They worked a little while in silence, the only sound the shuffling of paper and Bow's occasional sniffs that Adora pretended not to notice. When she finished the batch he'd given her, she moved onto a bag of unopened letters. All this had come in since Angella died? Poor Glimmer was inheriting a ton of paperwork along with a kingdom. 

"Oh wait!" Bow said suddenly, jumping up. "We need the purchase codes. There should be a book where we can look them up. Hmm, ok, now where would that be?" 

"How do you know how to do all this?" Adora glanced up from the envelopes and watched him go through the books on the bookshelf. 

"Glimmer's had all these tutors over the years... she's basically been taking Queen lessons since she was a kid." 

He didn't elaborate but Adora understood. Glimmer had been taking Queen lessons since she was a kid. And Bow had been helping her with those lessons because that was what he did. What he was still doing, right now.

"Ah, OK, here it is." Bow returned to the desk with a large book. He opened it and sighed. "Why is the print so small in all of these?"

"I'll read it. Give me a sec. I only have a few left here." She held up the three small groups of papers that hadn't seemed to fit into any of the stacks they'd set up so far. "OK, so where do you want Princess Alliance stuff?"

"Oh, give me that. There's a file for those over here." 

"And these three are citations from the Bright Moon fire marshal about Sea Hawk." 

Bow laughed and Adora joined him because it felt good to have something to break up the terrible heavy feeling of the last few days. It went on a little longer than it probably should have because they were both overtired and looking for a moment of normalcy. When they finally got themselves under control again, Adora felt like she could breathe normally again for the first time in a while. 

"I guess I'll put them in with the Princess Alliance stuff." Bow looked the letters over and gave another small chuckle before tucking them into the file. 

Adora held up the last stack. "And where do you want the marriage proposals?"

Bow laughed again. "Come on, we're never going to get this done if we keep goofing around. What are they really?"

"They're... marriage proposals?" 

Bow froze like he’d just stopped working entirely. Adora got a painful twisting feeling in her gut at the look on his face. 

She starting babbling to cover the awkwardness of the moment. "I mean, some of them are more like courtship, I guess... or permission to start courting? It's hard to tell because it's all this fancy royal language, all like blah blah the tales of your beauty and the powerful alliance our kingdoms could make. I know it’s nuts to think about Glimmer getting married right now and it's kind of creepy they didn't even give her a second to grieve her mom but it seems like some of these alliance things are pretty important and she's going to have to deal with it eventually, right? Like, Queens need heirs and stuff so… Anyway, maybe we could write up some kind of form letter so Glimmer can wait and deal with these later when she’s ready to marry or be courted or however it works. Something like, ‘Oh, Queen Glimmer is honored by your worthy… honorable?… attentions and would be happy to consider your romantic, uh, offers of romantic matrimonial…’ OK, so I'm bad at this but probably you could come up with something that sounds better."

She held the letters out to Bow. He didn't move for a long time, just blinked at her. Finally, he seemed to snap out of whatever it was and he looked down at the stack of papers and took them slowly. 

"Uh, yeah. I guess I could... write up some kind of reply. So she can... consider these... later." 

He was paging through the letters and Adora knew he was looking at the fancy titles and pompous letterhead she’d just been looking at. The expression on his face was unreadable as he slowly sank down into the chair, his eyes never leaving the letters. The moment stretched on, heavy and weird and she kept throwing words into the silence to try to break whatever was happening here.

"So, uh, does Glimmer have to marry a noble or royal or whatever? I never really thought about it. Did they cover that in Queen classes?" 

"I… don't know." Bow was still staring down at the letters like he’d turned to stone. She finally reached over and put her hand over his.

"Bow? Are you OK?" She asked softly. 

He looked up at her as if he'd forgotten she was there. He shook his head. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Let me show you what we're looking for with the codes and then I'll… deal with these."

"Maybe you should ask Glimmer, she might—"

"It's fine." He snapped and Adora decided to drop it. They all had enough going on right now. 

Matching up the codes took a few more hours and, by the time they were finished, the sun had started to rise and the fire was almost burned out. They'd gone through almost everything. Whenever Glimmer was ready to deal with all this stuff, Adora felt better knowing they'd at least made it easier for her. And that now that they knew what they were doing, maybe they could help her. The thought made her feel a lot less helpless. 

She returned from a bathroom break to find Bow by the bookshelf. Bow startled at the sound of the door and spun around to face her. He flushed and made a big show of straightening a picture over the mantel that didn’t look crooked to her. 

“Oh, uh, hey. So, Glimmer should be waking up soon. I'm going to go back to her room so she doesn't wake up alone. You want to come?" 

"You go. I've got a couple more codes to do here and then I think I'll see if Swifty wants to take a fly. I need some open sky time to clear my head." And a break from all this. Sometimes they’d find a peaceful mountain top and she could cuddle up against his side for a nap. Horse naps were the best.

"No problem." Bow started for the door, looking exhausted and sad. 

"Hey, Bow? Glimmer's going to really appreciate that you did all this for her." She hesitated and then added. "She loves you, you know." 

He didn't turn around. "She loves you too." 

Adora opened her mouth to point out that she was pretty sure it was not the same but stopped herself. What did she really know? And if she was wrong… or worse, if she was right but Glimmer had to marry one of those suitors from the letters anyway… wasn’t it better not to say anything? 

She exhaled and aimed for a hopeful tone. "The Best Friend Squad's going to handle this queen thing just fine!"

"Yeah." He said it so softly she wasn't sure whether he'd actually said anything or just sighed. 

A moment later he was gone, the door closed behind him. 

It only took her a few more minutes to look up the last few codes and then she went through all the files they'd already done, double-checking they'd gotten everything right. It all looked in order. There was just one thing... she didn't see the stack of marriage proposals anywhere, not even in the filing cabinet. 

Oh well, Bow said he’d handled it.

She grabbed the big book of codes and went to put it back on the bookshelf. She'd just slid it back when something in the fireplace caught her eye. She leaned in for a closer look. The fire had burned down throughout the long evening so it was mostly black soot and embers. 

And there, at the edges of the grate, unmistakably torn bits of fancy letterhead. 

He hadn't... Not Bow, Mr. Rational and Responsible, do what’s best for everybody else, put yourself dead last, he didn't seriously just... 

For half a second, she considered reaching in and collecting the bits, trying to save them. Instead, she moved the scraps of evidence with her boot until they touched the glowing embers. She watched as the rich paper caught and flared and finally disappeared into the soot below. 

Adora exhaled, her heart hurting for two of the people she cared about most in the world. She had a bad feeling this was going to get a lot harder before it got easier. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always hugely appreciated no matter how long after posting it is!
> 
> Visit my Tumblr for asks, fic updates and misc thoughts. [https://tippenfunkaport.tumblr.com](https://tippenfunkaport.tumblr.com/)


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